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Creator
Emmet, Thomas Addis, 1828-1919
Call number
MssCol 18116
Physical description
.31 linear feet (1 volume, 1 folder)
Preferred Citation

The Life of Robert Fulton / by Cadwallader D. Colden ; illustrated by Thos. Addis Emmet M.D., Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
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Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet (1828-1919) was a renowned surgeon and early collector of American manuscripts of the Revolutionary Era. Cadwallader D. Colden (1769-1834), a lawyer and politician, was Mayor of New York City from 1818 to 1821. The collection comprises an extra-illustrated copy (disbound) of Cadwallader D. Colden’s The Life of Robert Fulton (New York: Kirk & Mercein, 1817) compiled by Thomas Addis Emmet in 1887. Inserted material depicting Fulton’s life and work consists of original manuscript letters and documents, 1767-1829, and numerous 18th and 19th-century engraved and lithograph portraits and views. A watercolor drawing by Fulton of ship boilers appears on the verso of his letter of 1808 October 12 (1 leaf only). The imprint also contains small engraved Fulton portraits and steamboat pictures added as inlaid vignettes.

Biographical/historical information

Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet (1828-1919) was a renowned surgeon and early collector of American manuscripts of the Revolutionary Era. Cadwallader D. Colden (1769-1834), a lawyer and politician, was Mayor of New York City from 1818 to 1821. He also served in the U.S. Congress and New York State Legislature.

Scope and arrangement

The collection comprises an extra-illustrated copy (disbound) of Cadwallader D. Colden’s The Life of Robert Fulton (New York: Kirk & Mercein, 1817) compiled by Thomas Addis Emmet in 1887. Inserted material illustrating Fulton’s life and work consists of original manuscript letters and documents, 1767-1829, and numerous 18th and 19th-century engraved and lithograph portraits and views. A watercolor drawing by Fulton of ship boilers appears on the verso of his letter of 1808 October 12 (1 leaf only). The imprint also contains small engraved Fulton portraits and steamboat pictures added as inlaid vignettes. Only manuscript letters and documents, with the exception of one printed table, are listed in the collection guide.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by John S. Kennedy, 1896, as part of the Emmet collection.

Processing information

Compiled by Susan P. Waide, 2017

Twenty-eight prints were transferred to the Library's Print Collection in 1909.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328